Toad Suck Daze

The big green blob on the right is the official inflated Toad. The thousands of people who showed up are not visible in this photo because it was taken Friday morning when booths and attractions were still being set up. By nightfall the streets were curb-to-curb full of Arkansans - and a couple of Washingtonians. We don't know if we were the tourists who came from the farthest away to Toad Suck daze, but we sure had a good chance of winning the title, if they'd only had a contest.


No midway is complete without a ferris wheel. We especially enjoyed watching this small fry version. There were midway games, and several blocks lined with booths selling handcrafts. If I'd hand room in my suitcase I could have brought home a genuine Ozark quilt for Carol Anne. It was hard to resist the elk caller. Of course there was food, much of which was offered on a stick: sausage-on-a-stick, chicken-on-a-stick and alligator-on-a-stick, for example. We tried barbecue from the Hog Pen booth. The spouse wanted to abandon our comfortable seat at the picnic table next to the booth when the booth began to broadcast all-too-realistic hog sounds, but I made him stay. We sampled the roasted corn, which was excellent. Alas, I was by then too full for a turkey leg, bucket of spicy crawfish, cotton candy or even a stawberry shortcake.